Laughing Planet, originally uploaded by alicethelma.

Alice and I checked out the trendy Mississippi Avenue on Saturday. I haven’t been there in years and I must say it’s really been built up and gentrified as they say. We had a great time nonetheless indulging in our favorite pastime of going out to lunch. Alice is pictured here at the Laughing Planet just before we decided to sit outside and enjoy the February heat wave.

In knitting news, I finished the Hemlock Ring Blanket – over two weeks ago actually.

It took time to block…

…and it’s not an easy item to photograph. My hats off to BT for capturing the blanket’s true magnificence with his awesome photography.

In the final stretch to finish the February socks, of course I got distracted by a project I saw on Yarn Harlot’s website. I already had the yarn so I cast on and I was off and running. Haste makes waste as they say and after a few mistakes I pulled it off the needles and it’s a good thing too! I now see that it’s much too small and I need to cast on for the bigger (large) size. I also intend to make it longer which suits me. No matter, it knits up really fast on the big needles and once Adrienne (at Close Knit) helped me with the “wrap 3″ stitch, I had the pattern memorized. I am resolved to begin again once I have the socks complete by the end of the week.

In addition I have my “mindless” project of the Shetland Triangle to keep me happily occupied. It always elicits “oohs” and “ahs” from passers by. I leave you now with a parting quote from the ReBuilding Center on Mississippi Avenue which could be applied to knitting I suppose…

Hemlock blanket in progress, originally uploaded by alicethelma.

Now it may appear to some of you that many of my projects are knock offs from the brooklyntweed blogsite and I need to address this issue. IT’S TRUE! I confess that I’m a huge fan of the designs and creations of Jared Flood. I think he’s an absolute knitting (and photographic) genius. At one time I must have had four or five of his knitting projects on needles at the same time. I have managed to finish some of them:
1. the Cobblestone sweater of course,
2. the Log Cabin socks, two pairs, which I first saw on his blog
3. the Beaverslide scarf although I didn’t end up making it from Beaverslide

HOWEVER, I *am* stuck on the Hemlock Ring Blanket. To the uninitiated, this lap blanket is really an oversized vintage doily with a giant feather and fan pattern. Somehow my count strayed and the feather and fan is a little lopsided, doesn’t jive with BT’s charted extension and seems overall a little warped (or maybe that’s me). I tried taking it off the needles to get a good look. It doesn’t lay flat but of course it wouldn’t because it hasn’t been washed and blocked yet. I thought I would start it all over but then thought better of it. It really is a lovely little blanket…so far. And I do adore the color. In addition to brown, I’m a great fan of the color gray and this is an especially warm shade.

Perhaps I just need to let it alone for a while and allow it to gestate….perhaps I just need to give myself a break.

Stay tuned: More WIPs to come.

[Technical Info: Knit Picks Superwash in Squirrel Heather, Options circular needle size US 10.]